Full Throttle

Off season Formula One testing commenced this week at Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. Among those testing are BMW, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mclaren, but it was the BMW that caught my eye.

Beijing Guoan’s Davide Rigon will have a host of local Spanish stars hot on his heals as his Chinese club is just one round away from premiership glory in the inaugural Superleague Formula championship.

The BMW Sauber F1 Team carried out testing with two F1.08B interim cars featuring a modified 2008 chassis with some of the bodywork complying to the 2009 regulations, running with regular driver Robert Kubica and test driver Christian Klien.

Third annual TV Total Stock Car Crash Challenge Video from top-rated German TV show star Stefan Raab held in the VELTINS Arena.

Every possible season champion has been crowned, but unlike the proverbial Bear in the Woods who both defecates and hibernates in the woods during winter NASCAR drivers stay active in one fashion or another.

Tony Stewart ended a ten year run Sunday in the famous, but now obsolete, Home Depot color orange.

Sunday may have been Jimmie Johnson’s coronation as Sprint Cup Champion for the third time but it was Carl Edwards who may have proved he is “Sprint Cup Prince” waiting for the King to abdicate the throne.

In what is surely the final death rattle for the Canadian Grand Prix Gérald Tremblay, Mayor of Montréal, has called Bernie Ecclestone’s demands “unreasonable.”

This is an end-of-season video compilation of drivers as they thanked fans after various events throughout the 2008 NASCAR season.

Four years’ hard work pays off for Clint Bowyer as the Richard Childress Racing ace proves dreams can come true in beating Carl Edwards to the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series trophy at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

David Reutimann and his No. 44 UPS Toyota won the Coors Light Pole Award for the FORD 400 with a lap of 31.462 seconds, 171.636 mph. This is his first pole in 63 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.

Todd Bodine won the battle but Johnny Benson won the war in the 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway - as Ron Hornaday Jr. came up agonisingly just short of title glory.

A few hours after the official announcement was made DEI and Chip Ganassi Racing were merging operations the fallout is starting to drift downwind.

NASCAR has suspended all testing at its sanctioned tracks next season in a cost-cutting measure that should help teams save several million dollars in their 2009 budgets.

12 Women Drivers Confirmed for Lyn St. James’ Women in the Winner’s Circle Foundation 2008/09 Driver Academy

Witness a south Florida TV stations headline for this weekends NASCAR events: “South Florida World Racing Capital This Weekend.”

I’ve been in resistance mode all week and have refrained from noting the numerous stories, all with no byline or from the all too familiar and [in]famous anonymous sources on a potential DEI Ganassi Racing Merger.

The Chase for the Cup was implemented in 2004 to involve more drivers in the championship hunt, and intensify fan interest and drama during the season’s stretch run. But little is known how the system was developed, this video shows all the ugly details.

AP Radio Assistant Sports Director Jack Briggs covers the week’s NASCAR stories and previews the races ahead with AP Auto Racing writers Jenna Fryer and Mike Harris. In this podcast they discuss Jimmie Johnson’s win at Phoenix, virtually assuring him the championship.

 

 Jack Briggs & Jenna Fryer on this week in NASCAR: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download